The Gonzaga Girls hosted Loyola Marymount for his or her second go round in convention play and emerged victorious, 71-47, within the Annual Pink Recreation. With Yvonne Ejim nonetheless away from the crew resulting from her participation in Canada’s Olympic Qualifying marketing campaign (spoiler: they made it), the Zags pulled collectively as a crew to soundly defeat the Lions and have been rewarded with a bump in the latest AP Ballot as much as #17. Let’s recap how this sport unfolded.
After a pair empty possessions by each groups, Kayleigh Truong lastly kicked off the scoring within the first quarter by pulling down a nook three assisted by her sister. She adopted this up with one other three from the alternative nook on the next possession. The following a number of minutes had been fairly sluggish as LMU performed pretty conservative on the offensive finish whereas trying to prohibit the paint on protection so the groups went into the media timeout with the Zags up 9-6. The Bulldogs would rating 6 fast factors from three pointers by Bree Salenbien and Kaylynne Truong, however neither crew would rating for the ultimate two minutes of the quarter because the Zags led 15-6.
Regardless of taking pictures effectively from vary (4-7), the Bulldogs struggled to shoot from contained in the arc (1-6) and appeared a bit sluggish operating their offensive units this quarter with out the magnetism of Ejim sucking in defenders to create mismatches for her and others exploit. Whereas Kayleigh led the crew in scoring with 6 factors, solely three different gamers scored and Brynna Maxwell didn’t even try a shot. One other subject seen this quarter was turnovers because the Zags coughed it up 4 occasions in comparison with simply 4 assists.
The primary 5 minutes of the second interval began off sluggish with Gonzaga solely including 6 factors to their whole and LMU failing to attain in any respect, which suggests they didn’t rating for 10 minutes if we embrace the primary interval). That being stated, the Bulldogs appeared higher as they had been transferring effectively off the ball on offense and took good, excessive proportion, pictures so as to add to their lead whereas coping with a sluggish LMU crew intent on bringing every possession right down to the dregs of the shot clock. Fortunately, the sport broke open after the media timeout because the Zags exploded for 17 factors throughout the ultimate 5 minutes of the quarter as they might head into the half up 38-16.
Seven Bulldogs bought onto the scoreboard this era with Kaylynne main the best way by dropping 8 factors on an ideal 3-3 taking pictures. In comparison with the primary quarter, Gonzaga shot a lot better as they went 10-13 from the sphere and 3-4 from deep, however what actually impressed me was the 8 assists dished out coming from 5 totally different gamers to go together with simply 2 turnovers.
After a quiet first half by which she solely bought onto the scoreboard within the second interval, Brynna Maxwell opened up the half’s scoring by dribbling up the court docket and pulling down a 3 pointer in her defenders face. Positively a shot you gained’t see many different Zags take and speaks to how a lot confidence she has in her self and the workers in her. Whereas Maud would add two on her layup shortly thereafter, the Zags would solely rating two extra occasions throughout your entire quarter because the Lions shored up their inside protection and Gonzaga may solely shoot 4-17 from the sphere. Specifically, Eliza Hollingsworth had a interval to neglect as she shot 0-6 and missed a number of alternatives that we’ve come accustomed to seeing her convert. Fortunately, the Lions weren’t capable of capitalize as each groups solely scored 11 factors a chunk so the groups headed into the ultimate quarter with the Zags up 49-27.
After a down third quarter by Zag requirements, Fortier opened the fourth along with her starters and we had been handled to a pleasant high-low go by Eliza to Maud that reveals simply how necessary Hollingsworth will be to this crew outdoors of merely scoring. The Zags would hit a dry spell over the following couple minutes as the sport stream bought floor down by fouls, however by the media timeout, this sport had entered streetball territory with every crew going forwards and backwards with their scoring. LMU particularly appeared to shake off no matter sloth got here into their locker room earlier than the sport as they had been operating a full court docket press and the offense got here alive as they almost doubled their scoring whole of the sport with 20 factors this quarter. Nevertheless, Gonzaga one upped the Lions to attain 22 factors earlier than the ultimate whistle blew to wrap up a sport that was by no means actually in query. Zags win 71-47.
My Takeaways:
For a crew averaging 80 factors per sport, scoring simply 71 factors could not look nice, however to do this with out with out your main scorer that contributes 20 per sport towards a crew desirous to play at a snail’s tempo is fairly spectacular in my eyes. So as to add some context, Gonzaga solely scored 72 factors the final time these two groups performed
Whereas the Bulldogs ended the afternoon by taking pictures 9-23 from three level vary, I wish to spotlight the disparity between the primary and second halves. The crew went 7-11 from deep within the first and appeared poised for a tremendous efficiency from past the arc, however they faltered within the second half as they went 2-12.
Whereas I may speak about a few of the potential missed factors by solely scoring 10 from their 11 offensive rebounds, I’d moderately spotlight how Gonzaga punished LMU by scoring 23 factors off of 13 turnovers. On the flip aspect, the Lions solely managed to attain 8 factors from Gonzaga’s 13 turnovers. That’s an attention-grabbing disparity
Calli Stokes had an ideal evening, notably within the second half. In her 24 minutes, she scored a season excessive 10 factors on 5-6 taking pictures whereas additionally contributing 7 rebounds, 1 help, and 1 block. It’s been nice watching her confidence develop as this season has progressed and I’m actually enthusiastic about her future with this program.
Kaylynne Truong had an ideal sport as she led the crew in factors with 13 (5-7 FG and 3-5 3FG) whereas additionally getting her teammates concerned with 8 assists. With the improved well being of this 12 months’s squad, she’s not scoring as a lot this 12 months (11.5 vs 15.8 ppg final season) as she’s fulfilling extra of a real level guard position that I feel she’s undertaking fairly effectively.. Because it stands, she’s elevated her help numbers from 5.0 to six.1 and dropped her turnovers from 2.9 to 2.4 in comparison with final 12 months. However that’s to not say she will’t rating anymore as within the two video games with out Ejim, she’s led the crew in scoring each occasions.
Eliza Hollingsworth could have struggled along with her taking pictures, however I stay impressed by her position inside this crew. She could have shot 2-10 on the evening, however she added 6 rebounds, 4 on the offensive finish, whereas allotting 3 assists and never turning the ball over. Her high-low go to Hujibens in the beginning of the fourth quarter was actually fairly. I actually like her versatility and the way Fortier makes use of her to step out past the arc to both pull for a 3, the place she’s taking pictures 36% on 75 makes an attempt this season, or use her imaginative and prescient to create alternatives for her teammates. I hope she will shake off her tough taking pictures efficiency for the following matchup.
Throughout WCC play, Gonzaga has solely given up 60 or extra factors twice and because the Louisville loss have held their opponents to a median of simply 57.9 factors per sport. Thoughts you, this consists of video games towards Stanford, Cal, Arizona, Japanese Washington (presently second within the Large Sky), Rice (presently second within the AAC), and SDSU (presently first within the Summit). That’s fairly cool and hopefully one thing that interprets out of the convention come March.
Nice to see this crew step up as a unit with out Yvonne obtainable. 8 of the ten gamers that noticed the court docket scored and all who did scored six or extra factors. Three gamers reached double digits and two others scored 9. I like watching studs like Ejim drop 20 an evening, however I additionally love when everybody on the ground could be a risk offensively to maintain a protection on their toes.
Whereas Gonzaga was capable of return dwelling for this sport, they are going to once more hit the street for his or her subsequent two video games as they journey again to California to face off towards St. Mary’s on Thursday and Pacific on Saturday. Remember to test again right here for the sport previews and related open threads!